Finalist in the 2020 Nick Adams Short Story Contest
Read the Story: Stygian Blue
More about Astin Campbell
- Junior at Coe College
- Majors: Creative Writing and Psychology
- Hometown: Kansas City, KS
ACM: What sparked your interest in writing, and how did you get started writing fiction?
Campbell: I grew up reading unstoppably, but I didn’t consciously put together the fact that I could write until I was introduced to fanfiction at around 13. I couldn’t keep my thoughts about X video game or Y TV show inside me without exploding, so I let them out. Then I just…kept going!
ACM: How have you developed your writing while you’ve been at Coe?
Campbell: The best thing my creative writing major has done for my writing is provided me with lots of feedback. I wasn’t terribly used to feedback before coming to college, because pretty much everyone reading my stuff was either my friends or people on the internet whose opinions I didn’t trust. It’s been an incredibly important experience to go through the workshop process, and I hope it’s helped to prepare me for the world of publishing!
